


Dare To Do This

by whiteblankpage



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 00:58:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4327767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteblankpage/pseuds/whiteblankpage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the wrong time to have an epiphany. Thankfully Kurt has an unlikely ally in the crowd.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They’re all standing on the stairs; the place where Kurt had picked a head out of the crowd and started everyone on the road that has lead them to here. 

The scent of rose petals is heavy, almost cloying, in the air as Rachel nearly vibrates in her place behind him. Every second step is lined off with a Warbler or the overly-expressive smile of a Vocal Adrenaline song-bot. 

Even the Haverbrook kids look more like sentries on duty than good-intentioned on-lookers. 

It’s _too much._

When Sebastian takes his dutiful place at the foot of the stairs, mouth twisting briefly, it’s too much.

When his own father comes into the room, smiling and singing along like Kurt even has a choice here anymore, it’s too much.

When Blaine boyishly stumbles through his speech, looking around the room for confirmation that he doesn’t take the hands of random people, Kurt locks up.

It’s out of body, the way he remembers walking along the park’s pathways, listening to Blaine tearfully admit his infidelity. A shot of bitter anger makes his throat ache as he remembers Rachel’s earnest eyes after Kurt had hesitated to move on. 

The sound of the song Kurt had told Blaine not to sing to him still hums between his ears as he tries to breathe. He’d told Adam, just weeks ago, that he desperately wanted to be over Blaine.

The realization that he was had chosen a bitch of a time to come knocking.

“Kurt, will you marry me?”

The back of his neck itches with the weight of the stares on them, everyone balanced on the edge of celebration. 

Kurt steels himself with a silent breath of courage and says, “no.”

-

It’s harder than Sebastian anticipated, keeping his mouth curled into a benevolent smile. Between the ridiculous dancing and _actual baskets of flower petals_  waiting to drop, he’s going to get a  _rash_  if Blaine doesn’t hurry up.

Trent’s elbow digs into his side as Sebastian sighs audibly. Another skirt twirls. This song is the  _worst_.

When Kurt appears at the top of the stairs, he can’t help but perk up. 

The perversely delightful thing about taking a chance on a public proposal is the always niggling possibility that the intended target could turn you down in a very mortifying turn of events.

From the look on Kurt’s face, he’s more than a little ready to upchuck his final answer onto the eye-searing mustard-yellow jacket of Blaine’s.

Sebastian steps off to the left of the group crowding along the bottom step, keeping himself in Kurt’s direct line of sight when Blaine drops to his knee and pops the question.

He doesn’t struggle to keep a grin on his face when Kurt breaks the quiet with a soft ‘no’.

-

Rachel plows into his back in a panic, the hall exploding into a sudden flurry of sound. Kurt steadies them both with a hand on the rail.

“No? Kurt, what do you mean  _no_?” She smiles at Blaine over his shoulder. “It’s the shock talking, ask him again.”

Blaine’s looking at him, beseeching and glassy-eyed, still on his knees. “Kurt. I have a  _ring_.”

“I know but I can’t,” Kurt says, reaching out to close the lid on the box himself. “I can’t marry you. I can’t promise to marry you in front of all these people- I don’t even know who most off them are!”

“I think maybe Kurt and Blaine could use a little privacy?” Mr. Schue says, clapping his hands. “Guys?”

As the other show choirs start to trickle out of the main hall, Blaine rises to his feet. “Why? Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t get married.”

Kurt’s mouth twitches into a frown of irritation. “I don’t need a reason, Blaine-  _no_ should be enough.”

Burt steps forward to put his hand on the railing, effecting boxing Kurt in from a quick escape. “Kid, I think he deserves  _something_. I mean, come on.”

It’s too much like being scolded, in front of everyone Kurt cares about, for him to keep his temper. “And I’ve given him my  _decision_ \- which I think is the most he deserves. It hasn’t even been a week since I agreed to give us another go!”

“Are you upset that you didn’t get to sing? Baby, it was a surprise- I  _had_  to take the lead.” Blaine takes his hand, ignoring the way Kurt twists at his grip. “Don’t embarrass me out of spite.”

Rachel’s hands are sneaking up to settle on his shoulders and it’s almost like the car ride over here- no one will let him have his control. He feels powerless. 

“It’s not spite,” he says harshly, yanking his hands away. “There’s- there’s someone  _else_.”

Blaine immediately scowls, dropping his own hands. “Adam? You promised me it was nothing.”

“It’s not Adam-”

“Then who?" 

Kurt looks around the group clustered before him, for any sign of a friendly face. Most of the strangers avoid his gaze, shuffling restlessly. Others- Burt, Rachel, Santana, Tina, Sam- look at him in wanting. 

From the furthest corner of the hall, Sebastian Smythe sends him a cheerful wink and clears his throat. 

"He means me.”

-

There’s a heart-pounding moment of uncertainty for Sebastian, when no one says a single word. He shakes off the feeling with a wider smile, excusing himself to push through the people.

They part without protest.

Kurt’s hand is cold when he takes it in his, clammy from shock until their fingers thread together. Sebastian squeezes once for show, twice out of actual concern when Kurt starts to shiver.

Burt Hummel stares up at him, his mouth a hard line of disbelief. “Who are you?”

“Sebastian, this isn’t the time for your jokes,” Blaine says, inadvertently answering for him. 

“Who said I was joking?” He holds up their hands joyfully. “Do you really think we’d do this for a bit of fun?”

Kurt seems to jolt out of whatever stupor Sebastian's announcement had knocked him into, reaching out to clutch at Sebastian’s arm. “I….didn’t want to tell you this way.”

“Hold up,” Santana’s voice pipes up from behind them. “When in the hell did this happen? Not while we were in New York, I’ve been through all of Kurt’s things- I would have known if he was seeing you.”

She tosses her hair over her shoulder. “It’s like a secret power I have-I can tell when there’s fucking afoot.”

“Facebook’s a wonderful thing,” Sebastian says with a shrug. “Full of private messaging functions. I’ve become enough of a real boy to even learn how to text.”

“Who else thinks this is total BS?” Tina says, pushing to the front of the group. “Kurt would never mess around with garbage like you.”

Sebastian clenches his teeth, never letting the smirk on his lips drop as he cups his free hand under Kurt’s chin in warning.

“I think you’d be surprised,” he says, swooping down to kiss him.

-

It’s an awful kiss, as far as kisses go. 

Kurt keeps his lips pointedly pursed, involuntarily arching his back away from Sebastian. Sebastian pulls back long enough to tilt his jaw, catching Kurt off guard when he leans in for a second kiss.

It’s  _better_ , even when their teeth click against each other and Sebastian’s tongue accidentally catches the corner of his mouth. Kurt likes kisses, likes the heat and the slick slide of their lips.

It’s like a slap of cold reality when Rachel pulls them apart.

Most of their friends have turned away, awkward and unsure. Burt pulls his hat off his head, rubbing at his brow, completely baffled.

Blaine’s stepped down the stairs to the landing, his shouldering drooping. 

No one’s saying anything, torn between looking away and looking at Kurt like he’s wronged them all somehow. It’s too much.

“Can we leave please?” He whispers, leaning into Sebastian’s side. “I want to leave.”

Neither Rachel or Santana offer then any sort of acknowledgement as Sebastian leads them up the stairs and across the top landing. Kurt lags when he hears his name said softly.

“Come on, Kurt, don’t give up the game just yet- I haven’t had this much fun since Hunter Clarrington told me to drop trou and stuck a needle in my ass.” Sebastian hisses excitedly, picking up his pace as they hit the exit.

“I’m so glad you find mass humiliation and disappointment amusing,” Kurt replies. “It’s almost like you haven’t changed at all.”

“Being good is so boring, give me a good public scandal any day.”

They pass three dazed Warblers, turning and twisting through the halls without a word. Kurt tells himself he’s only holding Sebastian’s hand to keep from getting lost.

“Do you know where you’re going? We’re almost at the gardens- do you plan to end this show with a leap into the rose bushes?”

“If we get to the South Wing, we can take the service stairs all the way down to the underground parking,” Sebastian replies, his long legs keeping an even stride. “We’ll be gone before they even realize we’ve left the grounds.”

Kurt lets out a short huff. “And then?”

“We’ll get to that when it happens.”

Sebastian’s smirk has to be contagious, Kurt thinks, returning the look.

-


	2. Better Choose Carefully

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They end up in Dayton. It’s the best fake first date Kurt’s ever had.

“Where exactly are you taking us?” Kurt asks, when the gates of Dalton Academy have faded from the rear-view mirror.

“West.”

Kurt looks away from the reflection to glare at the line of Sebastian’s jaw. “Helpful. So detailed. I can’t ever seem to get you to shut up about the place.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “Where do you want to go?”

Kurt feels the weary way the decision settles on his shoulders and sighs. “Home? New York? Canada?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s a federal offense if I take you over state lines.”

Kurt feels his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket. “That’s only if you’re planning on  _kidnapping_  me.”

The sheer number of text messages are overwhelming to look at but his dad’s on the list of missed calls and Kurt can’t just let that go.

“I’m going to call my dad- he doesn’t deserve to worry.”

He catches Sebastian pulling a face out of the corner of his eye just as his phone vibrates in his hand and his dad’s picture fills the screen. 

He swipes and answers,“dad?”

“Kurt?” Blaine asks desperately. “Where are you?”

“Why do you have my father’s phone?” Kurt braces his hand on the dash as he leans forward. He feels suddenly sick, that his dad would let them ambush him again.  "I want to talk to my dad.“

"Kurt, we need to talk,” Blaine says, completely ignoring him. “Just come back or- tell me where you are and I’ll come get you. Please.”

Kurt takes a sharp, sudden breath. “You’re not listening to me, Blaine.” Sebastian’s head turns to him at that. “If you don’t let me talk to my dad, I’m going to hang up and turn my phone off.”

A silent moment passes before the muffled sound of movement crackles down the line. His dad’s voice is a relief and the building of his quiet rage.

“Kurt? Buddy, are you going to go home? Everyone’s worried sick here.”

He’s reaching for Sebastian’s hand before he can think about it, before embarrassment can settle in. Sebastian takes it with ease. “Did you give him your phone knowing I’d answer for you?”

Burt’s quiet a beat too long. “He said his was dead. Are you- you’re really going to leave it like this with him? He’s  _devastated_ , Kurt.”

“You told me I had three choices- yes, no or maybe,” he reminds him. “I made my decision, I need you to respect it.”

His dad sighs hard into the speaker. “You’re right. I should’ve gotten you out of there myself. Are you going to come home before your flight?”

No matter how furiously wounded he feels by his dad’s actions, he can’t leave _them_  like this. “Of course, just- us right? No more surprises?”

 "No more surprises,“ Burt promises. "I’ll see you at home?”

“Tonight, yes. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Sebastian smoothly changes lanes. “Please tell me that wasn’t Blaine.”

“My dad wanted to know if he would see me at home,” Kurt says, bringing his hand up to tap his cell against his temple. “God, this is such a nightmare. I feel like my head is going to explode.”

Sebastian lets go of his hand to manuver around a driver with a very loose option on using his signal light. “Do you want me to take you home?”

They’re coming up on the exit to Lima, the sign filling Kurt with a heavy sort of dread in his belly. He shakes his head, leaning back to close his eyes tiredly.

“Keep driving.”

-

He wakes just as the engine dies, blinking into awareness slowly. 

Sebastian grips his shoulder, shaking gently. “Hey. I thought we’d stop for a bit. Get out.”

Kurt’s reaching for the door handle before he can question it. “Where are we?”

“Dayton.”

“Day-” Kurt nearly chokes on the word when Sebastian slams the door on him. He quickly scrambles out of the car. “ _Dayton_. That’s an hour and a half away- how long have I been asleep?”

Sebastian taps at his watch, smirking. “About forty-five minutes. You snore, by the way.”

“I do no such thing,” Kurt replies, affronted at the very suggestion. “I live with two flatmates, Sebastian- there would be no end to the complaining if any of us snored.”

“Maybe your buddies don’t want to hurt your sensitive Lima-grown feelings,” he says, shoving his hands into his pants pockets and beginning a slow walk down the nearest street. 

“Have you even met Sant- oh my God, we have to go in here!”

—

Sebastian looks back to catch Kurt dodging around a group of elderly women to pull open the door to The Cheesecake Factory. Without him.

He turns back with a loud huff, excusing himself to get through the crowds to the restaurant door. Kurt’s already making his way to the back of the restaurant, peering over the shoulder of the guy leading him.

“I’m with him,” he tells the young man seating Kurt at a small corner table, pulling out his own chair when the server’s face drops. “Isn’t that right,  _sweetheart_?”

Kurt visibly shudders, plucking the shiny menu booklet off the tabletop with a groan. “Don’t ever call me that again and I might agree to being seen in public with you.”

He waits until the server has promised to bring them some water before he adds, “I’m just wondering if you’ve forgotten that not only am I your ride home, I’m also paying for this meal.”

Sebastian gives Kurt as much of a look over as possible, with the table in the way. “Unless that fancy jacket of yours actually has pockets.”

It’s oddly charming, the way Kurt flushes and keeps his eyes on the menu. “I don’t suppose you’ll order me an entire cheesecake?”

Sebastian takes the menu from him and shrugs, casually. “Maybe, if I’m feeling kind.”

They order lunch first- “Because cheesecake is a dessert, Kurt and I’m hungry for actual food.”- burgers with fries and leafy salads. Kurt devours his with gusto- some sort of strange concoction with macaroni and cheese in it- and begins browsing the dessert menu determinedly. 

“You sure you'e not going to ruin your perfect figure if you scarf down an entire cheesecake right now?” He asks, dragging a few short fries through his puddle of ketchup. 

Kurt scoffs at him, flipping back and forth between two pages. “I work three jobs while maintaining a course load that involves at least two dance classes. I tailor all of my own clothing. I’ll enjoy all the comfort food I want right now. I’ll eat three cheesecakes if I so please.”

Sebastian finds himself struck speechless as the cheeky grin Kurt sets his way. “But I’ll thank you, for noticing my  _perfect_  figure.”

When he finally settles on a choice, Sebastian sits back and addresses the one topic of conversation they’ve been avoiding. 

“You said no.”

Kurt rolls his eyes hard, annoyed at the reminder. “Spare me the faux attempt at civility. I know there’s a part of you that wants to shove it all in my face right now- you don’t have to be nice to me.”

There’s very little Sebastian hates more than when people think they’ve got him pegged. “You’re right, I don’t have to be nice to you. I figured, since I literally faked being your secret new-found boyfriend, I’d at least deserve an explanation.”

 Kurt takes a deep breath- then another one- barely remembering to thank their server, before answering. “He was just so relentless. About how sorry he was, about how much he wanted me back, about how much we belonged together. It was so tiring, fighting it. So I stopped.”

“I knew we was planning to propose- there’s only so many times Sam can bring up how great same-sex marriage is before I get the hint,” he says, nearly tripping over his words, like he was waiting for Sebastian to just ask. “I don’t know how he even got my father on board or that it would be so  _public_.”

Sebastian folds his arms across the table, drumming his fingers lightly. “If you knew he was going to pop the question, why not stop it before he could spur everyone into a frenzy? Cut him off at the pass?”

Kurt takes an over-sized bite of his cheesecake, obviously stalling when he starts licking the fork clean. “I wasn’t sure I could turn him down. I mean, the practical side of me would like to point out that I’m not ready to become a fully-fledged adult just yet. I can’t be responsible for someone else’s happiness when I can barely manage my own.”

Sebastian can’t help but feel impressed, a little stunned at the insight into Kurt’s mindset. He’s not the man Sebastian thought him to be. It’s maddening. 

“Are you trying to tell me your heart didn’t go pitter-patter at the  _romance_  of it?” He has to ask, the query eating at the back of his ribs, like something alive. “Such a grand gesture, the talk of  _meant to be_  and soul mates? Nothing tugged at you?”

A bland “not really” isn’t the response Sebastian expects either. 

“Soul mates sound nice on paper,” Kurt adds with a shrug. “The idea that destiny or fate or something made someone who just  _fits_  you? It’s the thing of fairy tales. It’s shiny.”

“Then the shine wears off and it’s a trap. You start letting the hard work slide and accepting what you’re convinced you deserve because it’s destiny. He’ll cheat on you like his mistakes are somehow your fault and you’ll take him back because it’s fate.” Kurt sets his shoulders, sitting proud and regal in the dim light of the restaurant. “I refused to be trapped again. I refuse to believe that I am anything but whole, all on my own. I won’t fall for that again.”

-

Kurt expects Sebastian to laugh at him, smirk at his ideals and tell him he’s a moron for turning down the best a guy like Kurt is ever going to find.

“So how are we going to do this?” Sebastian asks instead, leaning back to stretch in his seat. 

Kurt simply stares at him. “Excuse me?”

“How are we going to convince all of your noisy little friends that we’re madly in love with each other? Your flight leaves in…?" 

"Six days,” Kurt says, though numb lips. “You’re going to help me? Why?”

“You’re beginning to get repetitive,  _dear_ ,” Sebastian says. “Six days isn’t even a week- you get to go back to New York without being pressured into a marriage you don’t want and I get to smirk at everyone we know like I’ve got a secret they don’t. It’ll be a blast." 

"It’ll be a nightmare.”

Sebastian spreads his arms as if to say ‘bring it’. “Are you telling me you’re not up to the task? Stretch those acting muscles a little, pretend this is the role of a lifetime. What have you got to lose at this point?”

Kurt knows that they’re fooling themselves, that it’ll be so much harder to lie to his friends and his family than it seems right now. Sitting here, with a kinder- if not mild-mannered- Sebastian, who’s taken more care of him in a few hours than most of his friends have in years, Kurt’s….hopeful. 

“You’ll actually have to pretend to like me,” he warns Sebastian, trying to hide his grin. “They’re not easily deterred.”

Sebastian looks at him, his gaze intent and heated and different from the memory Blaine’s imploringly wide eyes and Adam’s soft, adoring smile. No one’s looked at Kurt quite that way before. 

“I think we’ll both find some fun in proving them wrong.”

—-

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted: sept2013


End file.
